Check Out Colleen Murphy’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Murphy. 

Hi Colleen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hello, my name is Colleen Murphy. I am a musician & visual artist from Denver Colorado. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the wild adventure I have been on the last few years. I was a single mom and art teacher struggling to make ends meet with 3 kiddos under 7 and a full-time job. A friend, Jess Morse whose children I watched daily and whom I enjoyed playing music with said “Let’s start a band” I guffawed the idea being 35 and thinking I wasn’t allowed such frivolity. But we did and my whole world opened up. We started a trio, Bluefolk Dreamers with Adam Taubman from Golden, CO and began performing. Jess moved, but I was hooked. Denver having an explosive music screen esp for bluegrass provided many opportunities to play at bluegrass picks and hone my knowledge and skills. I couldn’t get enough. I started a girl band with my friends called Pistols and Petticoats. we weren’t the strongest players but soon rose to small notoriety for our rich vocal harmonies. That band ended abruptly after a very serious car accident after playing the Tye Dye festival in NM when we rolled a car on the highway. Fortunately, and miraculously no one was killed, except the band. 

I missed the outlet of performing and created a new band BoTtlerocket Hurricane and we have been playing for the last five years with a rotating cast of talented musicians which currently includes myself, Ben Hanrahan (Hog Magundy), Erik Hill (Mountain Strange) Johnny Plott (Flatland Harmony Experiment), Don O Gorman and Dan Pink who’ve been with me for years as my rhythm section on (Bass and Percussion respectively.) 

We have grown and developed over the years and have had the opportunity to open for such National acts as Molly Tuttle, The Hackensaw Boys, National Park Radio, and performed in many local and national festivals. Our sound keeps evolving  recently adding horns and break-dancers and taking us to the heights of a musical hurricane as the name promises. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The blowup of my girl band was hard for me and sent me to live in the mountains. I was very naive at the time and didn’t know the rampant egolomania that occurs frequently in the industry. It was very emotional as we were all in shock from the car accident that should have killed us. A young woman bandmate with whom Id had power struggles behaved cruelly, to be fair I believe she was in shock from the accident. But the damage had been done at that point and led to the band’s demise, at least for me. She proceeded to replace me, (in the band I started) with a guy, which was somewhat flattering, and drive that band to extinction. I learned not to give up my creative control so willingly and that I actually have a lot of talent, to be fair she is the only person that has ever written a song about me to my knowledge, and there’s flattery in that. Live and learn. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
In addition to my music and songwriting, I am a sculptural artist and muralist. I’ve done murals for Globe Hall as well as several educational institutions around town, but am most known for my upcycled musical found art. I have known multiple luthiers and have been lucky enough to get their broken and unfixable instruments and have been able to create many unique pieces with the strings and remains of broken instruments. 

You can view my work at Thinning Veil Artworks on FB. 

I have also been an art teacher and music teacher for children in the Denver and Grand and Summit counties for almost 20 years and currently teach music/drama at Bill Roberts k-8 in Central Park for DPS 

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
In all of the artistic and creative areas of my life, I feel that I wouldn’t be where I am if I hadn’t had a fierce determination to not give up on my dreams. Many people my age do not even remember what their dreams were let alone act upon them. I wouldn’t have survived without my dreams and goals, and it hasn’t been easy to keep picking myself up and trying again. I find that people either support you immensely or want you to come down to their level of misery when I hear statements like “grow up” or get a real job or settle down. You have to ignore the haters. I lost several of my youngest dearest friends in the last couple years and it has affected me profoundly. 

I am still not sure why I get the honor to play the music that should be being played by the best and youngest and brightest. Two of my most talented friends respectively got ill or died last September, and I have the blessing and curse of carrying their songs out for people to hear. I want to do them justice. I want their message to be heard. 

One of my closest friends Ryan Hall died from societal ills in a tornado of self-loathing, insecurity, and crucifixion from a society that doesn’t know how to address those like myself who struggle to be understood. 

He often behaved very very badly, and while I wouldn’t tolerate that from him, I never cut him off as many who cared about him did, and that ultimately did him in. 

My other friend Ben Hanrahan is on the road to recovery and hopefully will return to the band. In the meantime, we will play their songs and honor their talents, it is a great privilege and honor. 

I want my message to be about unity, compassion, forgiveness, education, and love. 

Contact Info:

• Email: bottlerockethurricane@gmail.com
• Website: bottlerockethurricane.com
• Instagram: @bottlerockethurricane
• Facebook: @thinningveilartworks
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAT7OxG8CDAHrSqY5tynKrw
• SoundCloud: https://open.spotify.com/album/3YsvTYNhuuKDT4ukJin3Vx
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/Bottlerockethurricane

Image Credits
Jhonette Purdue
BIgger Guy productions